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Paradise Forests of Asia Pacific | |
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-- crew biography --
Hometown - Jakarta, Indonesia Wherever I go, there is one thing I will never forget - the sound of chainsaws while I am teaching indigenous children in the forest. For years, it has been such an orchestra accompanying our lessons. The falling of the tree to earth is the end of each song. The worst is having my students' eyes staring at me, speaking nothing but asking, "again? why?" And I always try to pretend, I ignore it or look to another direction, then in a second, continuing the lesson again. That's because I don't know how to answer. Now, I am almost desperate...I do not know, if there is enough time to save the forest. I think teaching the children is a way to strengthen them. I just keep moving...At least I can try. Because I don't believe anymore in advocacy or conservation programs in Indonesia. In Jambi province, they said the conservation area is now 3% more than it was in 1970's, but the real forest loss is more than 50%. What good is a nature reserve if it's borders are ignored? Then it is just a name on a map. Since I was born in 1972, I used to live in the city like Jakarta, and for a while in Belgium. I became a nature lover. I was fascinated with rafting, caving, climbing - facing the beauty of nature, the purity of an indigenous tribe. When I was climbing in the mountains of Irian Jaya (Papua) I saw rivers that were polluted, and talked to people who said the snow on the mountains was disappearing little by little. This made me think. Being a nature lover began to seem like being an opportunist. I felt I only used it up. I did nothing for the nature itself, or the tribes even. In 1999, I started working with the Orang Rimba, the forest nomad people in Bukit Duabelas and Bukit Tigapuluh National Parks, in the heart of Sumatra. As with any other indigenous people in the world, they are always being cheated by outsiders. They had it especially bad since the 1970's, after their habitat became accessible by the trans-Sumatran highway, and even worse after the Indonesian government decentralized. What I've taught is to provide them outside knowledge including reading, writing, counting, Indonesian Bahasa, socio-political information about the outside world - to strengthen them in maintaining their rights to habitat and their way of life. Being a mobile teacher for them is a perfect work to me, I really love that. I'm actually not really a teacher, because I learn as well many things from them, about how to live in the forest, even deal with my malaria, about living in harmony with people and environment. Being with them, life seems so simple. After I leave this ship, I will go back to the forest, and the Orang Rimba (means forest people), but being on the Rainbow Warrior II is an honour to me. Being on this ship with incredible people from all over the world - it is like a dream which has come true. Even though I know it is a very hard struggle for the forest left in Indonesia, I really get hope from having Greenpeace in Indonesia. It gives such a great spirit to Indonesian activists; gives us a chance to show that we're not alone, to prove that this is quite a serious problem. The forest is already going at an alarming rate, and the need for real action from government is urgent. |
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